Elsie Evans
by maxevansishot
Summary: A strange girl shows up claiming to be Max and Isabel's daughter.
1. Reserved for Special People

I wish I owned Max but I don't nor any of the others.  
A small girl who looked about 11 walked into the Crashdown.  
  
"Hi!" Liz said. "Are you gonna order?" Her tone of voice said she was expecting something other than a yes. But the girl just stared at her.  
  
"Are you okay?" The girl ignored her and stared as if Liz were a museum artifact.  
  
"You're Liz," she stated.  
  
"Yeah, I am! How did you know that?"  
  
"I read into your soul," she said meaningfully. Liz stopped, searching the girl.  
  
"Oh-okay, um.do you know Max?" she whispered.  
  
"Yes!" the girl said, excited at the mention of Max. "Sorry," she said as she realized her shout had surprised Liz. "I've just never heard his name spoken before. It sounds so different in voice than in my head."  
  
"Um.why don't we go in the back?" The girl stared with a divining look on her face and then she understood. Happy bemusement filled her as they marched to the back of the Crashdown Café, where only employees and special people were allowed. Of course, as far as her parents knew, special people didn't exist.  
  
"Ok," said Liz, leaning in with an air of secrecy. "Can you.explain?" The girl delayed as if her brain hadn't received the message yet. She was trying to remember why secrecy was always involved. Oh, yeah, she thought as she remembered.  
  
"Ok. I can explain," she said slowly. "But I think it would be better to wait until we are safe and everyone is here. Why don't we meet at Michael's apartment?"  
  
Liz was a little scared. This girl knew all about them. That could be bad. But, she figured, no matter what, she'd better be nice to her. 


	2. Siesie

"So a girl comes in acting all alien like, you ask her if she knows Max, and she says yes?" Maria and Liz were on their way to Michael's apartment. Liz had called Max after the girl left. Max had said he would call the others.  
  
"Look, I know, it was kind of stupid to bring up Max, but she just seemed so.undangerous.  
  
"Liz-just-I just hope this turns out okay." They pulled into the UFO Museum parking lot and walked to Michael's apartment upstairs. Everyone else was already there.  
  
"So what's this about?" Michael was a little annoyed to have everyone in his apartment. I mean, didn't the others realize he was still upset over Adam, Cameron, and Trevor? And was Max really so eager to get back into the alien thing?  
  
Just as Liz, Max, and Maria were about to say something, there was a knock at the door. Max turned to get it. He stopped with his hand on the knob, unsure. What could be on the other side of the door?  
  
"Max!" pleaded a little voice. Baffled, he looked at the others. They exchanged frightened looks.  
  
"Max! Please, help me!" The voice grew louder, the girl seemed desperate.  
  
Max gulped and turned the knob. He felt weak. He struggled a little pulling the door open. As light came in, everyone flinched. But it was just a little 11 year old girl! The laughter of escaping danger filled their souls, but they remained silent. Michael was the first one to speak.  
  
"Who are you? What do you want?"  
  
"Michael-." Max and Liz seemed to be sticking up for her.  
  
"Hey! We don't know what's going on here. We can't be fooled by appearances." He indicated her non-threatening form.  
  
"Look, let's just sit down and talk." Max headed over to the living room and sat on the broken beanbag chairs. Everyone except Michael joined him obediently. Michael rolled his eyes and reluctantly followed. He sat a little away from the others.  
  
The girl had made her way towards Max and was now leaning into him, almost sitting on his lap, as if for protection. He looked around for an explanation, but noone could offer one. For the sake of diplomacy, noone said anything.  
  
The girl pulled Max's arm around her.  
  
"Name me, Max," she insisted, pleaded. He was taken aback.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Name me, Max," she repeated.  
  
"Who are you?" Isabel gets defensive when she's scared. Liz trusted this girl. She was quietly waiting for the explanation she had been promised. Alex is smart and sensitive, as he demonstrated ever further with,  
  
"She can't tell us. She's waiting for Max to tell her."  
  
"But, why?" Liz was trying to be as friendly as possible, but she really wanted to know.  
  
"Explain yourself, and maybe I won't have to kill you." Michael said, joining the group. The small defenseless child clung to Max.  
  
"I'm a siesie(author's note: pronounced "seezee"). I'm a child of twins. I'm different."  
  
"A child of twins..........You mean.Max and me?" The siesie seemed ashamed.  
  
"Yes." Max turned her to face him.  
  
"We're your parents.(?)"  
  
"Yes, which is why you have to name me, Max!"  
  
"Why is it so important to you to have a name?" She paused.  
  
"Alex, everyone has a name. I just.want my daddy to name me." 


	3. Strange girl

Max was sitting in his kitchen, lost in wordless thought. His mother walked in.  
  
"Hi, Max."  
  
"Hi, Mom." She looked at him inquisitively.  
  
"Is something wrong?"  
  
"No. Not at all." She raised an eyebrow.  
  
"All right, whatever."  
  
Isabel came down the stairs with a small girl who looked about 11. They made a lot of noise. Mrs. Evans caught them in the living room.  
  
"Who's this?"  
  
"Oh! Hi, Mom. Um.this is. Elsie." Elsie smiled up at Isabel. She started to say something, but Isabel stopped her.  
  
"She's, like, this little super-genius. She's in my class."  
  
"Oh! Wow! Elsie, do you mind showing off?" Elsie looked to Isabel for permission.  
  
"Go ahead," she urged her.  
  
"Ok. What do you want to know?"  
  
"Um.well, how about we start small? What's.5 squared?"  
  
"25."  
  
"And what's.5 factorial?"  
  
"120."  
  
"Wow! Do you have that memorized?"  
  
"Well, it's just that I've heard it so much.you know, all those permutations."  
  
"Um, Mom, I think that's enough showing off. Come on let's go." Isabel guided Elsie into the kitchen and out the side door. Following Isabel's signal, Max joined them.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Max!" Elsie shouted, "I love you, Daddy!" Max couldn't help smiling. The randomness of children is so cute.  
  
But Elsie wasn't a normal child. So why was she acting like one?  
  
"We need to take her to Alex's now." Elsie was going to live with the Whitman's because Alex's dad was the only one of their parents who knew about them, and they figured if she stayed at Michael's, one of them would kill the other.  
  
To Elsie, Isabel said, with great importance, "You can't call us Mommy and Daddy in front of our parents." Elsie's happy look was replaced by one of disappointment. "Look, I'm sorry, but they don't know, and we'd like to keep it that way."  
  
"What about me? Don't you care about me? Aren't you proud of me? Don't you want to share me with your parents?"  
  
"Yes! But.we can only share you as a friend."  
  
"They're my grandparents." Max and Isabel looked at eachother, then down at their feet. "I wish you would trust me."  
  
(Isabel)"Of course we trust you!"  
  
(Max) "That's why we're going to let you keep talking to your grandparents. We trust you not to tell them who you really are."  
  
"Not that kind of trust. But, the kind where you trust me with your lives."  
  
(Max) "We are trusting with our lives-"  
  
"I would keep you safe if anything bad did start to happen. Only good can come from letting this secret out."  
  
"Come on. Let's go," Isabel said, pulling Elsie away from Max and towards the car. She was protecting her. Protecting her from Max.  
  
The drive to Alex's house was a little longer than the Proud Parents would have liked. Elsie was just like a normal kid. She pointed out every stupid thing she saw along the way: "Hey, look, a candy wrapper! I remember Michael eating lots of candy and drinking Tabasco sauce. I like this one kind of candy because it reminds me of a flood-hey, look, the letter 'h' isn't lit up! There are two boys exchanging money! They all do it, but I haven't come across anyone who understands why."  
  
"We're here," Isabel announced. She was instinctively trying to keep tension at a minimum. But, what made her feel her brother was a threat?  
  
Alex came out to meet them. Elsie ran to him.  
  
"Hi, Alex!" She said as she gave him a big hug around the waist.  
  
"Hey!" Alex said, picking her up and swinging her around. He's a natural with kids.  
  
"Alex! I have a name!"  
  
"Congratulations! What is it?"  
  
"Elsie!"  
  
"Oh, cool!" Alex set her down and she ran into the house as if it were home.  
  
"Hey, guys. How's parent-hood?"  
  
"She's such a strange little girl," said Isabel. "It's like I'm putting her about everyone else."  
  
"Well, isn't that normal? I mean, parents are supposed to protect their kids, right?"  
  
"Yeah, but, we haven't had the connection most people have with their kids. She just showed up."  
  
"So, you think she's trying to control you? I mean, more than other kids?"  
  
"I felt a strange closeness to her. But, now it's like she's moved onto Isabel."  
  
"No. Not anymore. I don't feel it anymore." They both looked at Alex like they'd just discovered he was an alien. 


	4. Amazing Danger

"Alex's daddy, is it okay if I call you Daddy? Cux, you know, I'm going to be living here."  
  
"Yes, that would help with appearances, should anyone care to investigate." A blank look came over Elsie's face, but then she understood; he had misunderstood her meaning. She walked away dejectedly.  
  
Alex's house was big. She felt like exploring it. She turned slowly, taking in the grandeur of the high vaulted ceiling and the beautiful, mysterious staircase. Savoring the new angle on the world and the feel and sound of her feet hitting the floor with each step, she made her way toward the stairs. She set her foot upon this first step in the threshold of a new world. She placed a small perfect hand on the handrail and added to her repertoire one more fascinating sensation. She looked up, amazed, imagining her mind filled with all there was to know  
  
Alex, Max, and Isabel walked into the kitchen from the side door.  
  
"Alex," his father sounded like he had something important to say. Alex, Max, and Isabel looked at him, scared. "Your.friend.is going to call me Daddy to uh.avoid suspicion."  
  
(Isabel)"Her whole existence is suspicious."  
  
"Isabel.Don't worry. Noone questioned your strange appearance-at first. Anyway, we'll come up with a story."  
  
"But what if someone checks into it?" Isabel looked on the verge of a breakdown. Alex took her in his arms.  
  
"We'll come up with something." Alex's dad approached them.  
  
"You have someone with government connections," he reminded them, "I can give her an identity." Isabel pulled her head away from Alex and faced Mr. Manes.  
  
"How much power do you have? Won't anyone question it?"  
  
"We have to be careful about who we let in," Max said assertively, as if they all didn't know that already.  
  
"Noone will question it," Mr. Manes asserted. 


	5. Beyond normal

The next day at school, Max approached Liz.  
  
"We're meeting at lunch today."  
  
"Who's we?"  
  
"All of us. Elsie, too."  
  
"Oh.Is she."  
  
"She's enrolled. And she's going to explain.stuff.to us."  
  
"Ok."  
  
At lunch, Max, Maria, Liz, Isabel, and Elsie were standing in the middle of the courtyard (so that if anyone approached, they could move away) waiting for Michael and Alex. Those two were always so very boyish when they got together: You know, immature and stupid?  
  
Isabel heard their combined laughter, and said,  
  
"Here they come." Everyone glared at them as they approached, but they didn't even notice.  
  
"What's up?" Michael inquired casually, as he stuffed a cupcake in his mouth. Alex started to eat his too, but before he could, he saw Elsie.  
  
"Hey, Elsie! Do you want a cupcake?" he said, proffering the brown blob. Elsie had been glaring along with the others, but suddenly she seemed very good natured, and grabbed the cupcake from his hand with a big smile. Everyone, but Michael, who was too self-absorbed, watched her eat it in three bites. As she finished chewing, Maria said,  
  
"Michael!" slapping his hand away from his mouth, "Pay attention!"  
  
"Okay! Elsie, what do you have to say?" Elsie now looked very uncomfortable. Her eyes looked over every inch of the ground, but never at any of the people waiting to hear her speak.  
  
"This wasn't my idea." She seemed much older today than yesterday, although an age couldn't really be put to her. "I want to do it in the cave."  
  
"Let's go," said Michael. At any mention of the cave, he was ready for action. It had been his home for many years. Also, he'd been more amiable towards Elsie just now because he'd been in the presence of food. Those are the two things (other than Maria) that make Michael happy.  
  
"Michael, we can't just leave school," Max said, always the "responsible" one.  
  
"What? Don't you think this is more important than school?"  
  
"Yes, but it can wait." Elsie seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable.  
  
"I don't even want to tell you, okay!?" she exploded.  
  
"What's this, female problems?" Michael was getting pissed. He's just been given a chance to go to the cave, then had it taken away.  
  
"Let's just go to the cave," Elsie said, cooling off a little. "Max. Do you remember how I asked you to trust me with your lives? Now you have a chance to do that."  
  
"What, can you put androids in our places?" Maria suggested, popping a cheese cube into her mouth. Elsie laughed a good-natured young laugh.  
  
"No! I can just make them think you're still there." Isabel moved towards Michael.  
  
"How can you that?" Maria asked, sounding very cynical, eating another cheese cube. Elsie's eyes darted around, evading the question.  
  
"I just.can!" Liz moved towards Max. Like two little fish, Elsie's eyes darted ever more, this time to the two pairs that had formed.  
  
"What's going on here!? Why are you pair off?"  
  
"OH!" said Liz with her not-so-innocent act, "We're just-uh."  
  
"Alex! Maria! Come with me to the cave." She reached out and grabbed their wrists and they all three vanished. 


	6. My body is merely a vessel

Little Elsie sat down and cried. Maria and Alex were very scared. It's rare for a human to experience instantaneous matter transference. Alex experienced something like it when he accidentally got sent to Max's planet, which made it worse for him because it brought back some seriously bad memories. Maria was like a 2-D drawing being lifted off the paper, but when she saw Elsie crying, her nurturing instinct took over.  
  
"Elsie, what's wrong?"  
  
"I didn't mean to do it! My powers are going berserk. I can't control it!"  
  
"Are you going through, like, puberty, or something?"  
  
"I don't know, maybe. Everything looks really weird sometimes. Colors get bright and sounds get loud, and these other people are in my head, making feel bad feelings towards you and Max and Liz and Isabel and Alex and Michael," Elsie said through sobs.  
  
"OH! You're going through the . um, I forgot what it's called, but it's this thing that happens to your species, but. Alex! Didn't we break the collective consciousness?"  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"I think.they've been controlling Elsie."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"Well, she said."  
  
"Elsie!" Max jumped through the opening in the cave.  
  
"Max!" Elsie ran to him. She needed him to protect her, but he had lost faith in her. He fought the protecting instinct he felt and pushed her away.  
  
"Maria! Alex! Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah. We're fine," Alex answered as if there were no reason to think there would be anything wrong. He looked at Maria questioningly.  
  
"No, nothing's wrong!" Max looked back and forth between them, not believing.  
  
"What did she do?"  
  
"I'm sorry, Max! The people in my head made me do it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's the consciousness, Max. It has her. Although, not completely."  
  
"Michael. We need the stone."  
  
"What?"  
  
"The stone. We have to save Elsie from the consciousness." Michael looked scared. He knew what he had to do. He went to get the stone. It was still in the rock he left it in.  
  
"Okay, I got it." Max wasn't really sure what to do. The last time they had used the stone, Trevor had done all the work.  
  
"We need to work together," said Liz. It had worked before. They had a special connection.  
  
All six of them joined together and focused their energy and the stone's energy against the collective consciousness which had wedged its way into Elsie's mind.  
  
The consciousness fought back. They had the power of many of their species. They lived on a planet where their powers were not feared, so they could exercise them freely. But they feared the stone; they knew they couldn't beat it. And they didn't. They were forced away from Elsie.  
  
'Don't come near her again,' Max threatened. They felt his seriousness and knew he would not stop till he killed every one of them.  
  
Elsie was broken down in sobs. (Author's note: Remember how Alex was when he figured out that Tess had had him deciphering code for her while he thought he was on vacation? Elsie was just like that now. However, in my story, the thing with Alex didn't happen because mine is based on the book series Roswell High.) Everyone ran to her.  
  
"Elsie! Elsie, it's okay! They're gone!"  
  
"But, Max, Daddy, they invaded my mind and they made me hate you! I can't believe this! I was a danger to you! Because I'm different, they were able to invade me and use me." She paused. "The consciousness. I remember now. I don't know why I didn't make the connection."  
  
"They probably prevented you from realizing who they were. They're evil, Elsie. Anything they do is not your fault," Liz said.  
  
"My body is merely a vessel: A vessel of evil. That's Buddhism."  
  
"Yeah," Max said, picking her up. He held her up so she could climb out of the cave, then climbed up after her. The others followed. They got in the jeep and drove back to school. 


	7. Coming into my own Self actualization

When Max pulled into the school parking lot, the last period was already over. Now the school was going to call their houses and say they had missed classes. Elsie looked around at all the disheartened faces.  
  
"I can change the records. They will only call if the records say you were absent."  
  
"No, we can't ask you to do that," Liz said.  
  
"Why not?" Elsie asked.  
  
"Because..you might get caught," Liz's voice drifted away as she realized that probably wasn't a big deal to Elsie. Elsie was very confused.  
  
"But...they don't...they can't...tell..when I use my powers, can they?"  
  
"What?" Liz asked.  
  
"She's going to use her powers to change the records," Isabel said as she realized it herself, "She won't get caught by humans doing that. Well, normal humans. But...the dangerous people are all gone. At least, we think, they..."  
  
"Isabel, stop worrying yourself," Max said, "Everything's going to be fine. Elsie...what exactly are your powers? Have you used any of them yet? I mean, other than what the consciousness did..."  
  
"I used my powers when I was in my pod. Some of them don't work anymore. I could read the minds of everyone within a five-mile radius when I was in my pod. I could myself and my pod invisible." Elsie still seemed older, but kinder than when the collective consciousness had been inside her.  
  
"Is that why we never saw it?" Maria asked. Elsie nodded.  
  
"Yes. My pod, by some mutation, was invisible when it was first created, but it gained visibility as it learned there was no danger. Then I figured out that I could make it go invisible again." Elsie blushed. "I..I played a game. When you came in the cave, I thought it would be fun not to let you know I was there."  
  
"So," said Michael, getting fed up with this waste of time, "You gonna change those records for us, or what?" It took Elsie a moment to switch gears.  
  
"Yeah." She paused, looking down, thinking. She took a nervous breath. "I'd like to see your school. I've.learned that things are so much more amazing in person."  
  
"Well, let's go," said Alex, "What can it hurt?" He jumped out of the car and so did Elsie. Everyone else hesitantly followed.  
  
"What are you all doing here?" They'd run into a teacher just inside the door.  
  
"I'm new here. These are my friends. They're going to show me around now because it's not so crowded." The teacher looked at them in a very teacher- like I-don't-trust-anyone-under-thirty way.  
  
"Okay." They walked away as non-chalantly (bad spelling; please tell me how to spell this word) as they could.  
  
"Elsie, you really know how to handle yourself in a crisis. I'm sure that was better than what any of us would have said." Everyone agreed.  
  
"As I said, I could read everyone's minds when I was in pod. I've learned.what people want." Everyone stared, waiting for her to say more. "I knew you wouldn't accept me right away. But I had nowhere else to go. And I thought I could work it out. And look at this: It's all worked out. Of course.we had to go through a lot of trouble first. It's too bad." As they passed by the administration office, everyone looked scared. Elsie kept walking, so they all did too.  
  
"Um," whispered Liz, "Are you gonna.?"  
  
"Oh! It's already done."  
  
"Really?" Liz scrunched up her face as she expressed her amazement.  
  
"Yeah," Elsie said obviously. Then she laughed. "I know how amazing my powers are. I'll stop messing with you. . There are some things I haven't explained to you..Do you want to know?"  
  
"Of course," Isabel threw out. Then she looked to Max, afraid she had done something wrong.  
  
"Yeah," Max said. He nodded. "We want to know."  
  
"So let's go to my place," Michael suggested.  
  
"Okay." Elsie reached out and touched them all with the aura of her hands, and they disappeared. 


	8. Sorry

Sorry, guys, but I have no idea where to go with this story. I'm working on it, but nothing is good enough. If you want to read more stuff by me, go to www.fictionpress.com and look under the name iammealso. The i may need to be capitalized. I will update as soon as possible, but I've got a lot going on right now. 


	9. We thought this was over

Max had missed part of school. Elsie changed the records, but it turned out that a concerned teacher called Max's house. Max's parents were worried. They decided to look for Max at Michael's house.  
  
They couldn't get into his apartment, so they decided to look in the museum. They went up the stairs to the other door to Michael's apartment, and found it open. They walked in.  
  
"Max? Michael?" Mrs. Evans called.  
  
"Isabel?" Mr. Evans asked of the empty apartment.  
  
So StarTrek-like, seven people appeared in the room. They all looked the same, and appeared to be a mix of Max, Michael, Isabel, Maria, Liz, Alex, and that little friend of Isabel's named Elsie. They faded into separate people. Then they all looked very scared. Max looked urgently at Elsie, and she knew what he wanted. She grabbed them all again, and they vanished. 


	10. Clarification

There is a BOOK series call Roswell High. That is where the idea for the show came from. I have to say the book series is much better. At the end, Alex is still alive and Project Clean Slate, known as the Special Unit in the TV series, is completely destroyed. However, there are some secondary characters that die. Adam, the sweetest alien ever, is killed by the cruelest alien ever, known by his Earth name, Dupris. Sheriff Valenti is majorly evil in the book series, and is killed by Dupris. Nicholas, another alien, is killed by yet another alien named Ray. Ray is different from the others. Max, Adam, Nicholas, and the others were in their pods when the ship crashed. Ray was the only already-born survivor. Ray is a good guy.  
  
There's this cave in the middle of the desert, it's more like a hole in desert floor. You'd never notice it if you weren't looking. That's where Ray took the pods as Dupris, the evil alien was killing everyone else, and the humans were showing up to do who knows what. One pod held Max and Isabel. They were twins. One held Michael. Another held Nicholas. The pod that held Adam was not resued, and was found by Project Clean Slate, which used Adam as a tool to find the other aliens. Nicholas broke out of his pod before the others, carried it off with him, was adopted, and moved to California, only to show up in the second book of the series, The Wild One, I believe.  
  
Anyway, the important thing is that Max and Isabel shared a pod. That is how their DNA got mixed in together, creating another life.  
  
And let me clarify that there was no PREVIOUS LIFE. They were simply unborn when they were in the pods. That's how their lifecycles go, like humans being in the womb, or birds being in eggs.  
  
There is one book where Michael is captured and Isabel feels a connection to him, which makes her think they were meant to be together. But that idea is abandoned in the last book, when the couples are Michael and Maria, Isabel and Alex, and Max and Liz.  
  
And guess what! Michael has a brother!  
  
Anyway, enough of that. 


	11. Isabel's independence

They reappeared in Max's livingroom, knowing that noone would be there.  
  
Maria took several deep, scared breaths.  
  
"WHAT just happened?"  
  
There was a moment of silence.  
  
"They saw us," Liz said.  
  
"I'm going to tell them." Isabel headed for the front door.  
  
"Isabel, no!"  
  
"Oh, Goddamnit, you guys. Alex's dad already knows! He isn't killing us! He's HELPING us! Don't you think our parents will be the same?"  
  
"We can't take a chance," Max said, his voice shaking, "Alex's dad is with the Military. He's different. Our parents are just innocent bystanders. They have nothing to do this.(!)" Max said the same old thing yet again.  
  
Isabel rolled her eyes and made an exasperated noise as she turned towards the door, throwing her hand up. 'What can I do with them?' she thought. She left. 


	12. Maybe this time

Isabel was walking towards Michael's apartment. She was very angry. At her stupid brother, at Michael for not locking BOTH of his doors, at the whole Stupid world for making this happen to her. She was angry at Dupris. If he hadn't wrecked the ship in the first place, they could have all gotten out of there before any humans showed up. She could have been born on her on own freaking planet. But, then...she would never have met Alex. It had taken her a long time to appreciate him, but she couldn't live without him now. And she wouldn't have Liz or Maria, and she would probably be with Michael...  
  
"The whole thing's just a stupid mess!" she said to herself.  
  
A car pulled up next to her.  
  
"Isabel? Honey, what are you doing?"  
  
"Oh, Mom," she said, like the bearer of bad news, "I have something to tell you."  
  
"I figured as much. Get in the car, let's go home. You can tell us there. Where are Max and the others?"  
  
"Oh. They're, uuum, in our living room."  
  
Mrs. Evans looked confused.  
  
"How did they get there?"  
  
Isabel turned away from her mother.  
  
"What do you mean, 'How did they get there?'" Isabel asked, trying to throw the subject, "They got there like you get anywhere. Come on, let's go home."  
  
Mr. and Mrs. Evans gave eachother a look. They were used to things like this, but they had never gotten the answers they wanted. Maybe this time they would. 


	13. Broken Dreamsdotdotdot

Max was in his room, looking at pictures of Liz. Liz was downstairs in the kitchen talking to Maria about girl stuff. Michael and Alex were watching spanish soap operas. Elsie was feeling each individual thread of the carpet on the doormat.  
  
Keys in the door.  
  
Somehow, everyone heard it and turned towards the sound. In a few seconds they were all in the kitchen staring at the doorknob.  
  
Mrs. Evans came in, followed by Mr. Evans and Isabel.  
  
"Hey, guys! What's up? What are you all doing in the kitchen?"  
  
"We were about to get something to eat," Michael said.  
  
"And you were about to ask us about Michael's apartment," said Elsie. Everyone just now realized that she hadn't come running with the rest of them.  
  
"That's right, we were," Mr. Evans said authoritatively, "You care to explain?" Everyone jumped to say something, but Elsie got in the first word.  
  
"I think Isabel wants to tell you."  
  
Isabel fell away at the chance. She wanted to tell them, but now that all this attention was on her, she couldn't do it. It would have been so much easier if they were sitting in the living room watching TV...  
  
Isabel started to cry.  
  
"We're aliens, Mom!" she sobbed into her hands, moving towards her mother for comfort.  
  
Mrs. Evans stepped to the side.  
  
"What?" she asked as if she had just said, 'Oh, I just spent the night in Alex's bed.'  
  
Isabel looked up in shock as she realized her mother's arms were not there for her.  
  
Elsie stepped up, looking angry.  
  
"We are leaving."  
  
"What?" still with that same voice.  
  
Elsie put out her hand indignantly and Mr. Evans said,  
  
"Now, wait a minute, you haven't explained anything!"  
  
Still holding her hand in the air, Elsie responded.  
  
"Isabel explained everything and her mother rejected her. Have you rejected her too?"  
  
"No, of course not!"  
  
With a wave of her hand Elsie seemed to do nothing. Mr. Evans looked around confused. He had expected something terrible would happen.  
  
Everyone stared at eachother for a bit and then Mr. Evans noticed that something terrible HAD happened. His wife was looking around as if none of them were there.  
  
"What did you do to her?" he asked.  
  
"I made us invisible to her. Are you going to abandone your daughter, Mr. Evans?"  
  
"No. Never."  
  
Elsie shook her head.  
  
"I don't know what to do about your mother," she said.  
  
"Just--let us go, Elsie. Let's go somewhere away from here."  
  
Elsie let go and they were in a strange cave. The atmosphere felt different. They had no trouble breathing, but they felt a different texture in the air.  
  
"Where are we?" Maira asked, amazed.  
  
We're in the Understanding Cave. Ray knew about, so I do, too. It's great. It's kind of a tradition among...our people. They come here to calm down and get along.  
  
Michael jumped forward.  
  
"So we're--home?"  
  
"If you want to call it that," Elsie said, looking away. She caught sight of Alex shivering. She thought for a moment.  
  
"Alex doesn't like it here. We need to hurry. Shall I bring your mother, Isabel?"  
  
"No! I don't think she could handle it."  
  
"Ok. Mr. Evans, you said you won't abandon your daughter, but we've got a lot of issues here."  
  
Mr. Evans was holding himself. Hesitantly, he said,  
  
"Ok." 


	14. The work is never done

Elsie stood in her room, looking around. It satisfied her. This blankness is wonderful. Her mind was always full when she was in the pod. And after she broke out, she remembered everything. Her mind was cluttered. She had spent the past five years trying to forget it all. She wanted to be normal. She didn't want to read into people's minds and give them exactly what they wanted. She was ready to make a game that other people could win too.  
  
She still lived with Alex's dad. Alex was in his first year of graduate school, as were most of the others. Michael was working various odd jobs. Elsie was, of sorts, fifteen. She was in college. She was on her way to being a doctor simply because it's a good way to make money. She was planning on giving it to poor people. She knew that some people were poor because they followed their calling, so may it be called their own fault, but she had no calling and so thought she'd help out someone just trying to be true to themselves.  
  
Elsie nolonger used her powers. All her energy was focused on keeping her friends hidden. So she did use them, but only for that. And that's no fun. But, as said, she just wanted to be normal. And now her friends were normal. They still used their powers sometimes. She didn't ask them not to do so. But they were nolonger in danger. Protecting them gave her all the joy she needed. Everything else was for someone else. EVERYone else.  
  
Isabel's mother rejected them. She seemed afraid of her own children. She moved away as if they were gorrillas uninvited in her home. Their father acted the same as ever. Other than Alex's dad, noone else knew.  
  
She couldn't speak for the others, but the alien phase of Elsie's life seemed to be complete. Her alien friends were safe forever. But there were still humans to save.  
  
The work is never done. 


End file.
